Monday, July 15, 2013

Have Faith - Expect Miracles

Dear Family,

Thats good that you got my letter! I got the package with the cookbook but not the package with candy. But the cookbook is good! I love cooking but we have limited ingredients here so its tough. I would like the meatloaf recipe because I think I could pull that off and shepherds pie would be great! But other than that recipes with simple ingredients would be much appreciated. Although one lunch Elder Walker and I made a pizza! There is a store that sells pizza crusts near by. Other than that they sell flour, salt, fruit, meat, and alfajores. Just the basic stuff.

Elder Walker is so sweet though! He reminds me of John Gabrielsen! So, we have been doing pretty good work here. One of our investigator couples is German and Stephanie and their little one year old daughter. But they are pretty much like members because they have been helping us so much with our other investigators. The missionaries before us were walking down the street one day a couple months ago and they saw German barefoot digging in the trash looking for food for his girlfriend and their daughter. They taught him a few times and then we came in and took over. He is a completely changed man now. They are getting married the 8th of August and then getting baptized after that. It is amazing how the gospel blesses families. He is the coolest guy though. He always wants to help us.

Our first baptism is this Saturday! Her name is Romina and she is golden! She believes everything and has applied all of the gospel principles in her life. I am so excited for her to be baptized!

We do experience a lot of disappointment though. Especially when we think we are going to have 8 investigators in church and only 4 show up. We have been teaching this couple and their 2 young daughters and they want to get baptized but he refuses to get married to her. We can't figure it out but I think it will all be worked out in the end.

I have been thinking a lot about Faith. I might have told you this already. But one day I was thinking, “Man, I want to be able to have miracles happen. I want to be the type of missionary that God can work miracles through." But then I thought that is probably really prideful to think. I shouldn't expect miracles. But then I thought "No, if I do what is right and work my hardest I can expect miracles." With enough Faith and with enough work the Lord will work miracles through us. So, Expect miracles through your actions. Have Faith.

It has been cold here! We have a thermometer and it said that it was 40 degrees Fahrenheit in the house! We all believe it too. We always have to be bundled up... But maybe the thermometer is off haha! But its ok because we are always playing Christmas music here so the cold weather helps us think that it is Christmas time.

Sorry for all of my spelling errors and stuff. The keyboard I am using is super sticky and the monitor is blurry so it is hard to catch my mistakes. Plus everything I write is underlined in red because I am writing in English haha! Feel free to correct my grammatical errors.

But I love you so much! I will try to write a letter to you guys soon. There isn't much time ever. I will also look for that package with CANDY!

Love!

Elder Lacey

PS I love hearing about the rest of the family. Tell everyone I love them. And keep up the good work Luke. I want you to be able to beat me up when I get back!Dear Padre,

It sounds like everything is going well up there! It is crazy to think that you are almost done as a Bishop. Before you get realeased I need you to do me a favor. Get the ward pumped for missionary work! Now that I am a missionary I see how much the members can help. I always thought the missionarys can do it all on there own and the only job the members have is to feed them but I was wrong. I love the families that really try to help us. Shoot, I love anyone who feeds me haha! But Elder Walker and I are always looking for members who can come with us to teach investigators because it helps the investigator so much! It gives them a friend and they can learn the gospel from another point of view..... Go give the missionaries food! I didn't realize how much of a difference it makes.

But I am loving it here! Time is already flying! I am learning really quickly and I get to teach a lot. I feel like the area I am in is similiar to some of the areas you served in your mission so its really cool. I could be wrong though.

Today I worked out pretty hard and then we go to play a little bit of basketball so I'm getting my exercise in. To bad I'm constatly hungry though. haha! They say you get used to it after awhile though. I think I'm going to go home and buy 30 eggs and just eat those!

Anyway I love you Dad. Keep up the good work! I will write you next week.